Ladies and gentlemen!Dear Ralf! According to the dictionary, a thought leader is “a forward-looking person, able to identify certain trends and developments and to influence or promote them by virtue of his or her own ideas.” According to this definition, there are probably quite a few people who regard themselves as thought leaders, including...

CHINA China Releases Activists Scrutinizing Ivanka Trump Shoe Factory Keith Bradsher, THE NEW YORK TIMES Three undercover investigators who were seeking evidence of abusive labor practices in the manufacture of Ivanka Trump-branded shoes have been released on bail from a detention center in southeastern China pending a trial. Their release on...

Written by Clare Ferguson, New faces and old friends – Parliament continues to encourage the democratic process European Union, EP – 2015 There is a sense of an ending around this month’s plenary session, as European leaders say a final farewell to that quintessential citizen of Europe, Helmut Kohl, the personification of German...

It used to be dark, and children had to jump from stone to stone to get to school. Now, the roads are smooth and brightly lit. Water flows from the mountains by gravity, and thus is free of charge and available to everyone. This is what the residents of southwestern Ukraine’s Poliana village say decentralization has done for them....

Elderly people and mothers with children were among those detained in Russian-occupied Simferopol on June 26 at a totally peaceful protest at plans to ‘nationalize’ the Salute Children’s Camp. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...

NotPetya is something a little different. EPA/ROB ENGELAARThe WannaCry ransomware was barely out of the headlines when another cyberattack took down computer systems around the world. This time, a piece of malware dubbed “NotPetya” is to blame. And unlike WannaCry, it has no clear “kill switch” as it spreads across infected networks. NotPetya has...

Will AI and robotics erode or enhance the labour market for humans? (Shutterstock)Editor’s note: Canada Day 2017 marks the sesquicentennial of Confederation. While the anniversary is a chance to reflect on the past, The Conversation Canada asked some of our academic authors to look down the road a further 150 years — or “Canada +150”. Sunil...

The Socialist-led government, in office since the beginning of the year, has started implementing its popular election programme by further cutting the VAT rate and increasing minimum wages, as well as public sector salaries. This has given a boost to consumption which accelerated real GDP growth in the first quarter of 2017, to an unexpectedly...